If you are one of the fortunate people who have an older car that runs well but you no longer need, you can do somebody a world of good by donating it to the "Wheels to Work" program at the Housing Assistance Corp. of Cape Cod (HAC) in Hyannis and deduct a charitable tax donation for its value.

The program, initiated within the HAC more than a decade ago, has become dormant because people have stopped donating cars, says Michael Sweeney, who manages the program and is also HAC's vice president of administration and finance. Publicity for the program has also decayed into a dry bed in the river of hope.

The HAC is authorized to accept donated cars, check them out for condition and usability, validate the process and deliver the vehicle to a deserving, fully vetted recipient.

Earlier in the program, HAC received some state funding with which to repair some cars and start a revolving fund in a local bank where car recipients could borrow $500 and pay it back over time to reinstate credit. The funds - and donated cars - have dried up since then because of the economy and other factors.

Nonetheless, it's almost like selling the car for small money, but with less hassle and infinitely more "feel good." How many workers are facing that kind of transportation bind on the Cape is unknown, but here is a ready example and impetus for this column.

At this very moment, a man whose work is well-known to this column is teetering on the slimmest of wires between forward and backward, not because he doesn't want to work. Not because he is incompetent, or because he's trying to game the system.

Quite the contrary. This second-generation Cape Codder with Lower Cape roots needs a car to continue on in a recently-acquired minimum wage job in retailing. But he can’t afford it. He is also working during off-hours to establish his own low-end company of website design and maintenance geared "to small businesses" that can’t afford more expensive services.

Over the last several years, he has helped this writer, at this writer's own expense, develop a non-profit blog for consumption by English-speaking ex-pats and snowbirds in Mexico. Without his affordable help and the eventual emergence of a few sponsors, the blog might have foundered. That's the kind of inexpensive service he could bring to the area's small-business men and women. But he needs transportation to do it.

Born and bred in the sunless shadows of Cape affluence, where debilitating struggle is always one crisis away, he started his working life in retail. Now, at 55, he has traveled the wage-earner’s rocky road for many years, particularly since the 2009 economic downturn. That despite having pulled himself up by the bootstraps and breaking into the modern world of technology.

He was last employed in website development after putting 14 years in as an information technologist, part of that for a company in Plymouth. He was getting by until the economy went sour in 2009.

Until then, this man's investment in adult education at Fisher Junior College's computer technology certification program had paid dividends by way of full-time employment with a decent wage.

But people in the corporate trenches get laid off and become nameless statistics that fail to generate empathy. It's been a familiar story since the downturn. He puts a face on it for this writer.

After 14 years in the tech field, including at an office in Hyannis, the Nauset Regional High School graduate barely managed to avoid homelessness just four months ago and now finds himself without a vehicle to success. "So far, I've been able to borrow a car from a friend," he says, because in the expanse of the Lower Cape and its near absence of public transportation, keeping a job and trying to grow a business from scratch requires wheels, let alone stamina and faith. He can't keep on borrowing, he says.

"Some ask me how can I be happy in my world with my struggles? Simple. I have faith. I awake each morning. The Lord gives me a pulse, a heartbeat in the a.m. I look only for good that day. No matter what. 24/7."

Pat Strong, a successful CPA in Osterville who built her own business over the years, says taking a deduction for a donated car, up to $5,000, is a relatively straightforward process as long as it is in tandem with an authorized non-profit organization, such as HAC.

Gifts worth more than a $5,000 value require more paperwork and an independent appraisal. Otherwise, value can be established via nationwide appraisal groups such as Blue Book or the excise tax values.

Donations of automobiles aren’t limited to individuals. A neighbor employed in management for an insurance group says some insurers sometimes total good older cars with slight accident damage to the body rather than repair them, which can be more expensive. Some donate the cars to various charities.

If there is somebody on the peninsula willing to trade an older car for a tax break spiced with a good deed, give the Housing Assistance Corporation a call at 508-771-5400 and ask for Mr. Sweeney.

If somebody can help this tech man with the car, this writer will assist with the insurance. Let's turn on the light at the end of the tunnel.